The present invention relates in general to telecommunication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus, method and system for providing subscriber control of timed and regional membership in multiple member termination groups for multiple leg telecommunication sessions.
With the advent of increasingly sophisticated telecommunication services, various proposals have been made to allow a single call, incoming to a telecommunication switch, to branch into multiple, independent outgoing calls (or legs) to different called parties, during the same period of time. These incoming and multiple outgoing calls may be wireline, such as PSTN (public switched telephone network), ISDN (integrated services digital network), or T1/E1 wireline calls, or may be wireless, such as cellular calls or other mobile service communications.
Once such proposal is included in the ANSI-41 specification promulgated by the American National Standards Institute for wireless telecommunication, such as cellular communication, and is referred to as xe2x80x9cflexible alertingxe2x80x9d. Within ANSI-41, an incoming call may designate a pilot or primary directory number (xe2x80x9cDNxe2x80x9d), which is then branched into multiple, outgoing call legs to the parties or members of a predefined group, referred to as a flexible alerting group. The ANSI-41 flexible alerting specification, however, does not include any specific directions or guidelines for implementation and control of such independent outgoing multiple leg calls.
More specifically, the ANSI-41 specification does not provide for any significant control, by a subscriber, concerning if and when the subscriber and other members of the flexible alerting group are to receive one or more of the outgoing call legs, at any particular time and in any particular location. Rather, the ANSI-41 specification provides merely for inclusion or exclusion of the particular member(s) within the flexible alerting group, i.e., a given member is either in or out of the flexible alerting group. When the given member is in the flexible alerting group, that given member will receive outgoing call legs at all times; when the given member is not in the flexible alerting group, that given member will not receive any outgoing call legs, also at all times.
As a consequence, a need remains for an apparatus, method and system to provide subscriber control over the reception of one or more outgoing call legs during particular periods of time and while located within particular geographic regions. Such subscriber control should preferably be interactive, with the capability for the subscriber to determine if, when and where the subscriber is to receive one or more outgoing call legs for a flexible alerting group. In addition, such control should allow for activation and deactivation on a regular or periodic basis, such as for particular times of day, days of the week, and time intervals, and allow for activation and deactivation on a geographic or regional basis, such as for activation when the subscriber is located within a local area and deactivation when the subscriber has roamed to another geographic region.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus, method and system are illustrated which provide subscriber control of timed and regional membership, in multiple member termination groups for multiple leg telecommunication sessions. The various embodiments of the present invention provide for subscriber control of which members of a flexible alerting group are to be alerted during any given time period and when located within any particular geographic region. Moreover, the apparatus, method and system of the present invention are user friendly and provide such subscriber control on an interactive basis, such as through a telephone keypad or computer graphical user interface. Another significant feature of the present invention is that such subscriber control is provided in real time and on a dynamic basis, to be responsive to changing environmental and user conditions which may arise in wireless or wireline communication systems.
A preferred system embodiment, for subscriber control of membership in a multiple member termination group for a multiple leg telecommunication session, includes a database, such as a home location register, and a switching center, such as a mobile switching center. The database has, stored in a memory, a plurality of secondary directory numbers associated with a primary directory number, and further storing various parameters for each such secondary directory numbers, such as time period and geographic location parameters, in addition to routing and answering parameters. In addition, the database includes instructions to determine whether each secondary directory number, of the plurality of secondary directory numbers, is currently incorporated within a selected alerting group. For example, a variety of subsets of the entire alerting group may be formed for different times of day, days of the week, or geographic locations of mobile units (corresponding to particular secondary directory numbers). The switching center includes an interface for receiving an incoming call leg designating the primary directory number, and for differentially processing and routing each outgoing call leg associated with each secondary directory number currently incorporated within the selected alerting group.
In the various system embodiments, the database includes further instructions to determine whether each secondary directory number, of the plurality of secondary directory numbers, is currently incorporated within a selected alerting group based upon: first, a predefined time period parameter, such as a selected time of day, a selected day of a week, or a selected holiday; or second, a geographic location of a mobile unit corresponding to the secondary directory number.
Within the preferred system, various methodologies may be utilized to determine which secondary numbers are incorporated within the selected alerting group. Utilizing an exclusion methodology, the database may include further instructions to initially include all of the secondary directory numbers of the plurality of secondary directory numbers to form an initial alerting group; to determine whether each secondary directory number, of the plurality of secondary directory numbers, is excluded from the initial alerting group based upon time period or geographic location parameters; and to form the selected alerting group as a remainder subset of secondary directory numbers of the initial alerting group following exclusion determination. Alternatively, utilizing an inclusion methodology, no initial alerting group is determined, and the database includes further instructions to determine whether each secondary directory number, of the plurality of secondary directory numbers, is included within the selected alerting group based upon time period and geographic location parameters.